One of the most galvanizing performers, and versatile Americana musicians in the entire country is basically a Boston-area secret. Somerville’s Tim Gearan likes it that way, and he maintains such a busy schedule of gigs that music fans can catch him, almost literally, any night of the week.

This Saturday is a little bit special however, as Gearan, in his stripped down trio format, will be headlining Club Passim in Harvard Square, playing some of his most recent, unrecorded work. (Saturday’s all ages show begins at 8 p.m. and tickets are $16. Check www.clubpassim.org for more information.)

At any given point, Gearan might be able to tackle a fiery blues guitar solo, a hip-shaking rhythm and blues groove, or a two-stepping frolic. Gearan the singer boasts a rough-hewn baritone with the sort of warmth and depth of folk star John Gorka. As a songwriter he utilizes all those different facets of his talent, as well as a gift for the kind of detailed, witty, frequently self-deprecating lines that might evoke the best of John Prine or John Hiatt.

But he also has that knack of crafting story-songs that carry the authoritative tone of cultural history, just as The Band’s song-vignettes instantly seemed to be part of our collective experience. “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” by The Band, for example, seemed like it had to have been penned by someone who was there. But take a listen to the title cut from Gearan’s 2012 album “Riverboat,” and try to convince yourself that marvelous romp didn’t come from halcyon days of yore.

A partial rendering of Gearan’s weekly schedule includes frequent Tuesday night gigs in the trio format at Atwood’s Tavern in Cambridge, as well as regular Friday night performances at the same club, but with his full, eight-piece band. Monday nights you can find Gearan at Toad in Porter Square, Cambridge, where he’s part of the White Owls, along with rocker Dennis Brennan, another local music treasure. At other times Gearan might pop up as a member of The Sea Monsters, and while he isn’t an official part of Session Americana, he is good friends with the musicians who form the core of that group and often stops by their gigs, too.

It’s easy to see why one publication dubbed Gearan “Residency King of the Hub,” or why he won the 2012 Boston Music Award for “Best Ongoing Residency” for his Atwood’s series. His instrumental prowess won him a Gibson Guitar Unsung Hero Award in 2004.

Gearan’s five albums have shaded sometimes more to one style than another, but they’ve all been fascinating musical journeys, and all fit nicely under the vast Americana rubric. Seeing his music compared to everyone from Randy Newman to J.J. Cale, to every aspect of The Band is no surprise. The only surprise is why Gearan isn’t a major national star touring the world.

Page 2 of 3 - “I did plenty of touring in the 1990s,” Gearan said from his Somerville home. “Since I got married and we had our baby, I’ve had more of a longing to be home. I’m also old and lazy.”

Gearan toured the world in the ‘90s as guitarist and co-band leader of soul queen Toni Lynn Washington’s band, and as anyone who heard them would tell you, that was an all-star aggregation of some of New England’s finest musicians.

“I felt like I had a pretty cozy gig as a sideman there with Toni Lynn,” said Gearan. “I guess I was leading the band, along with (keyboardist) Bruce Bears. We did most of the writing, and worked out all the arrangements. I really enjoyed all that and time flew. They booked us solid, year-round all over the United States, and a couple times each year we’d go to Europe too.

“Maybe I got that out of my system,” Gearan said. “I can see touring the country in a van when you’re a kid, right out of college, sleeping on people’s couches, and it is no problem to make those kind of sacrifices. But I love playing around town. Maybe if conditions were different on the road, and maybe when my kid is older, I’ll feel better about going out on the road. In the meantime, I’m right here in town and as busy as I want to be.”

The time with Washington of course helped develop Gearan’s feel for r&b. before that he’d been more of a rock guy who worked a lot of blues, but he also had wide ranging tastes ranging into acoustic music, folk and country. His solo album, when they began appearing about 15 years ago, showed that kind of variety – making for intriguing records, but a hard-to-classify performer.

“Doing the writing for Toni Lynn, obviously that music was geared to her,” Gearan explained. “My own solo songs might be 180 degrees away from a lot of that stuff. That’s one of the best things about all my different gigs: my Tuesdays are much different than the Fridays. I still love the uptempo r&b hooks, still love rock ’n’ roll hooks, and the Fridays have a lot of that. But I’ve also gone through some writing periods of much more personal tunes, which fit Tuesdays, or will fit the Club Passim show more easily. My sweaty Friday night tunes that get everyone dancing are not the same introspective type of songs I do on other nights.”

The Club Passim show will differ from Gearan’s usual club dates, in that he’ll emphasize his singer-songwriter side, more subtle and lyrics-centered tunes aimed at a listening room audience.

Page 3 of 3 - “I’ll probably do one long set,” Gearan noted. “And I’ll write out a much more concrete setlist ahead of time, than I usually do. I have about eight or nine new songs to keep things interesting.”

“My Tuesday trio dates are more relaxed, playing whatever comes to mind,” added Gearan. “And I love those sweaty Friday nights too. I just like all those different environments. Fridays, with the whole band, we can work out some arrangements. I never play anything exactly the same way every night, but these are all guys who can turn on a dime, so we can have some fun that way. It’s not rocket science, so we enjoy opening things up, going in different directions night to night.”

That versatility is thrilling, except when people try to describe what style Gearan does.

“All the variety is a strength, or is it a fault?” Gearan chuckled. “Everyone loves to box people in, so ‘What kind of music do you play?’ is always the first question. I think my mom’s generation just called it rock ’n’ roll.”

The last decade’s surge in roots music; country-rock, folk-rock, country-blues, basically any kind of American music that evolved into some kind of rock, has given us Americana. It is a vast tent of often disparate styles, but it fits musical omnivores like Gearan perfectly.

“All I know is I’m seeing as lot of young kids with guitars lately, and that’s a good thing,” said Gearan. “Purists of any stripe can go jump in the lake, as far as I’m concerned. Muddy Waters was a country guy, and always would’ve been, until he got to Chicago and plugged in, and gave us electric blues. Music is always evolving, that’s what keeps it fresh.”

Gearan plans to record his next album by summer’s end, at Cambridge’s famed Q Division Studios, and he occasionally gets out of the city to venues around New England like Marblehead’s Me & Thee Coffeehouse, the Parlor Room in Northampton, Stone Mountain in Maine, or the Narrows Center in Fall River. His stellar octet includes Lou Ulrich on bass, Sean Staples on mandolin, Andy Plaistead on drums, Russell Chudnofsky on guitars, Paul Ahlstrand on sax, Scott Aruda on trumpet, and Chris Anzalone on percussion.